cool

• c00l, coo, k00l, kewl, kool, qewl, qool (slang)
• coole (obsolete)

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ko͞ol, IPA^(key): /kuːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kul/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /kʉl/
• (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /kʲɪul/, /kʲuːl/
  • (working-class) IPA^(key): /kʲeul/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -uːl

From Middle English cool, from Old English cōl (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōl(ī), from Proto-Germanic *kōlaz, *kōluz (“cool”), from *kalaną (“to be cold, to freeze”), Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold, to freeze”).

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolest)

2. Of a mildly low temperature. synonym, antonyms ▲quotations ▼

   Synonym: chilly

   Antonyms: lukewarm, tepid, warm

   I like cool weather the most 'cause it's not too hot to wear a jacket but I won't be too cold in my shorts.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

   • 2023 November 29, Ashley Strickland, “Astronomers discover nearby six-planet solar system with ‘pristine configuration’”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Many exoplanets have been found orbiting dwarf stars that are much cooler and smaller than our sun, such as the famed TRAPPIST-1 system and its seven planets, announced in 2017.

3. Allowing or suggesting heat relief. quotations ▼

   Linen has made cool and breathable clothing for millennia.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

4. Of a color, in the range of violet to green. antonym ▲

   Antonym: warm

   If you have a reddish complexion, you should mainly wear cool colors.

6. (of a person) Not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself. synonyms, antonym ▲

   Synonyms: distant, phlegmatic, standoffish, unemotional

   Antonym: passionate

   Be cool. There's no need to panic.

8. Unenthusiastic; lukewarm; skeptical. synonyms, antonym ▲

   Synonyms: chilly, lukewarm, tepid

   Antonym: warm

   His proposals had a cool reception.

10. (obsolete) Calmly audacious. quotations ▼
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Hester at her Needle”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

      Its cool stare of familiarity was intolerable.

    • 1860 February 27, Abe Lincoln, Cooper Union address‎^[2]:

      In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool.

    • 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 13, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC:

      "Well, that's cool," said Laurie to himself, "to have a picnic and never ask me!"

12. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount. quotations ▼
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

      Who will lend me a cool hundred.

    • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XVIII, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 303:

      But she had wrote out a little coddleshell in her own hand a day or two afore the accident, leaving a cool four thousand to Mr. Matthew Pocket.

    • 1900, Dora Sigerson Shorter, Transmigration:

      You remember Bulger, don't you? You lost a cool hundred to him one night here over the cards, eh?

    • 1944 November 28, Irving Brecher, Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

      My father was talking to the World's Fair Commission yesterday, and they estimate it's going to cost a cool fifty million.

14. (informal, of a person) Knowing what to do and how to behave; behaving with effortless and enviable style and panache; considered popular by others. antonyms ▲quotations ▼

    Antonyms: awkward, uncool

    • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 28, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 284:

      […] while the coachman holding whip and reins in one hand, takes off his hat with the other, and resting it on his knees, pulls out his handkerchief, and wipes his forehead, partly because he has a habit of doing it, and partly because it's as well to shew the passengers how cool he is, and what an easy thing it is to drive four-in-hand, when you have had as much practice as he has.

    • 2000, Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point:

      Maggie the au pair, and Pam P. on the school bus and Billy G. with his Grateful Dead records were all deeply cool people. But they weren’t cool because they smoked. They smoked because they were cool.

    • 2017 December 27, “The Guardian view on Prince Harry: the monarchy’s best insurance policy”, in the Guardian‎^[3]:

      He managed to conduct interviews with the least cool global figure – his father, Prince Charles – and the most cool, Barack Obama, in a way that allowed them both to look as good as they could.

    • 2025 June 30, Christina Caron, “What Makes Someone Cool? A New Study Offers Clues.”, in The New York Times‎^[4], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

      Is there a secret sauce that helps explain why people as different as David Bowie, Samuel L. Jackson and Charli XCX all seem so self-assured and, well, cool? A new study suggests that there are six specific traits that these people tend to have in common: Cool people are largely perceived to be extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous.

      (Can we archive this URL?)

16. (informal, originally African-American Vernacular) Fashionable; trendy; hip. synonyms, antonyms ▲quotations ▼

    Synonyms: à la mode, fashionable, in fashion, modish, stylish, happening, hip, in, trendy

    Antonyms: démodé, old hat, out, out of fashion

    • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii

      The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.

18. (informal) All right; acceptable; good. synonyms, antonyms ▲quotations ▼

    Synonyms: acceptable, all right, OK

    Antonyms: (UK) not cricket, not on, unacceptable

    Is it cool if I sleep here tonight?

    • 1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:

      Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band / And my Monster Mash is the hit of the land / For you, the living, this Mash was meant too / When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you.

19. (informal) Very interesting or exciting. synonyms ▲

    Synonyms: awesome, neat

    I think astronomy is really cool.

20. (informal) Followed by with: able to tolerate. synonyms, antonyms ▲

    Synonyms: easy, fine, not bothered, not fussed

    Antonyms: bothered, upset

    I'm completely cool with my girlfriend leaving me.

21. (informal) Of a pair of people, Having good relations.

    We're cool, right?

cool (uncountable)

1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.

   in the cool of the morning

2. A calm temperament. synonyms ▲

   Synonyms: calmness, composure

3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.

From Middle English colen, from Old English cōlian (“to cool, grow cold, be cold”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōlēn (“to become cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to freeze”).

Cognate with Dutch koelen (“to cool”), German kühlen (“to cool”), Swedish kyla (“to cool, refrigerate”). Also partially from Middle English kelen, from Old English cēlan (“to cool, be cold, become cold”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōlijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōlijaną (“to cool”), altered to resemble the adjective cool. See keel.

cool (third-person singular simple present cools, present participle cooling, simple past and past participle cooled)

1. (intransitive, literally) To lose heat, to get colder. synonym, antonyms ▲hyponym ▼

   Synonym: cool down

   Antonyms: warm, warm up, heat, heat up

   Hyponym: freeze

   I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.

2. (transitive, literally) To make cooler, less warm. synonyms, antonyms ▲hyponym ▼quotations ▼

   Synonyms: chill, cool down, refrigerate; deheat (rare)

   Antonyms: warm, warm up, heat, heat up

   Hyponym: freeze

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:24:

     Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

   Relations cooled between the USA and the USSR after 1980.

4. (transitive, figuratively) To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate. quotations ▼
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     We have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts.

5. (transitive, slang, dated) To kill, murder. quotations ▼
   • 1965, "Sex Jungle" (narrated in Perversion for Profit)

     Maybe he would die. That would mean I had murdered him. I smiled, trying the idea on for size. One of the things that always had cheesed me a little was that I had no kills to my credit. I'd been in plenty of rumbles, but somehow, I'd never cooled anyone. Well maybe now I had my first one. I couldn't feel very proud of skulling an old man, but at least I could say that I'd scored. That was a big kick.

   • 1967, Piri Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, page 31:

     Big-mouth got up as fast as he could, and I was thinking how much heart he had. But I ran toward him like my life depended on it; I wanted to cool him.

6. (intransitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To relax, hang out. synonym ▲quotations ▼

   Synonym: bool (slang)

   • 1986, “6 in the Mornin'”‎^[5]performed by Ice-T:

     Seen my homeboys coolin' way way out / Told 'em bout my mornin' cold bugged' em out

   • 2000, Paul Beatty, Tuff: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 223:

     "What up, kid?" ¶ "Coolin'."

   • 1997, Courttia Newland, The Scholar: A West Side Story, London: Abacus, →ISBN, page 207:

     'Asbestos? Raa, dat's a dangerous t'ing boy, dat ain't good. You know what though, you guys should min' yourselves walkin' street star, dere's bere nutters about. I know you're in a crew but boy can't you jus' cool at someone's house?'

• “cool v.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.
• “cool v.³”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “cool”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “cool”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Colo, Colo., colo, colo-, loco

Borrowed from English cool. Doublet of koel.

• IPA^(key): /kul/

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• Hyphenation: cool
• Rhymes: -ul
• Homophone: koel

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolst)

1. cool, fashionable

more ▼Declension of cool
uninflected	cool
inflected	coole
comparative	cooler
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		cool	cooler	het coolst het coolste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	coole	coolere	coolste
	n. sing.	cool	cooler	coolste
	plural	coole	coolere	coolste
definite		coole	coolere	coolste
partitive		cools	coolers	—

Borrowed from English cool.

• IPA^(key): /kul/

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• Rhymes: -ul
• Homophones: coule, coules, coulent

cool (invariable)

1. cool (only its informal senses, mainly fashionable)

   Les jeunes boivent de l'alcool pour être cool.

   Young people drink alcohol to be cool.

cool

1. cool! great!

• cool, Raoul
• coolitude

• looc

Borrowed from English cool. Doublet of kühl.

• IPA^(key): /kuːl/

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cool (strong nominative masculine singular cooler, comparative cooler, superlative am coolsten)

1. (colloquial) cool (in its informal senses) synonyms ▲quotations ▼

   Synonyms: brilliant, genial, geil

   Die Musik war echt cool. ― The music was very cool.

   • 1982, “Der Kommissar”, in Einzelhaft, performed by Falco:

     Wir treffen Jill und Joe und dessen Bruder Hip / Und auch den Rest der coolen Gang

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (colloquial) cool, calm, easy-going synonyms ▲

   Synonyms: lässig, ruhig

   Als Trainer muss mann ziemlich cool sein.

   As a trainer you have to be quite easy-going.

• “cool”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[6] (in German)
• “cool” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “cool” in Duden online
• “cool” in OpenThesaurus.de

Unadapted borrowing from English cool.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkul/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ul
• Syllabification: cool

cool (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (slang) cool (in its informal senses) synonyms ▲

   Synonyms: świetny, wspaniały, znakomity

• “cool”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[7] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “cool”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[8] (in Polish)

• Rhymes: -u

cool m (plural cools)

1. filter-avoidance spelling of cu (“anus, butthole”) synonym ▲

   Synonym: 🆒

Unadapted borrowing from English cool.

cool m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. cool

cool

1. cool

cool n (uncountable)

1. cool

• cul

Unadapted borrowing from English cool.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkul/ [ˈkul]
• Rhymes: -ul
• Syllabification: cool

cool m or f (masculine and feminine plural cools or cool)

1. cool (in its informal sense)

• According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “cool”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “cool”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
• Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense

• loco

Borrowed from English cool. Attested since 1951.

• IPA^(key): /kuːl/
• Rhymes: -uːl

cool (comparative coolare, superlative coolast)

1. (colloquial) cool (calm, collected)

   Träskmonstret röt åt honom, men han var helt cool.

   The swamp monster roared at him, but he was completely cool.

2. (colloquial) cool (appealing in a calm, controlled way)

   en cool snubbe med coola solglasögon

   a cool guy with cool sunglasses

   Han tyckte rymden var cool.

   He thought space was cool.

• ball
• häftig
• tuff

• “cool”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “cool”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Unadapted borrowing from English cool

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːɫ/
• Hyphenation: kul

cool

1. cool

From Middle English cole.

• IPA^(key): /kuːl/

cool

1. A very light wind.

• Diarmaid Ó Muirithe (1990), “A Modern Glossary of the Dialect of Forth and Bargy”, in lrish University Review‎^[9], volume 20, number 1, Edinburgh University Press, page 156